San Sebastian, Spain

The group at the top of Mount Igeldo

Boats in the San Sebastian harbor

This weekend was our first free weekend because it was El Dia de Santo Tomas--thank you Saint Thomas! We didn't have any activities to go to this Friday as a class, so a group of 13 of us went to San Sebastian, a gorgeous town in Northern Spain (about 10-15 minutes away from France).  It was the best weekend yet, in Spain.

We departed bright and early Friday morning for the train station to take our 4 1/2 hour train ride to San Sebastian. It was my first train experience and I really liked it! I think a tall person created the seat spacing for trains because I actually had extra leg room (which never happens).  So we got to San Sebastian around 1:30 p.m. and walked about 15 minutes to our hostel: Umore Ona Bi. It was a great place. Great location, clean, and cheap..the way us college kids like it! After getting all unpacked and settled in, the group headed off to do some exploring.  We walked along the boardwalk and admired La Bahia de La Concha (Conch Bay) and La Playa de La Concha (Conch Beach). It was the cleanest water I have ever seen! We then made our way to the San Sebastian Aquarium which was a really good time. Some of the group got to touch an octopus in the hands on tank!

My roomies Friday night!

After the Aquarium we went back to our hostel for a little siesta. After resting up, we got ready and went out for some pixtos (Spanish tapas--appetizers). They were great! I had a cheese ball thingy (don't remember the name), some shrimp, and a vegetable-filled appetizer).  After getting full off of pixtos, we came back to our humble abode and got ready for the night.  Going out in San Sebastian is not as wild and crazy as Segovia or Madrid is (which is fine by me).  I think it is because more old people live there. We tried to find some bars and discotecas, but didn't have any luck. We ended up hanging out at an Irish pub for about an hour and then calling it a night.

"Pixtos"

Saturday we slept in a little big and then me, Alexa, Katie, Kim, Kalleah, and Amy hit the shops! There were a lot of great shops with a lot of awesome deals. Needless to say, it was a successful shopping day! After shopping, we all met to have a nice authentic San Sebastian meal. My stomach had been hurting the past couple days so I didn't get too adventurous. We had three courses: first course was a nice garden salad for me (others had spaghetti or beans), second course was chicken and fries (others had fish, calamari, or lamb), and then for dessert we all had flan (which was way too eggy for my taste--but I have had good flan before).  It felt good to have a nice meal. 

What a piece of chicken, huh?--Dinner fit for a queen

Saturday afternoon, we walked the beach to the other side of San Sebastian and took a funicular (trolly-like thing) up Mount Igueldo to an amusement park! We saw the greatest views and got to do bumper-cars for a euro :).  The park closed at 7 p.m. so we took the funicular back down.  It had started raining and we got caught in it without umbrellas.  So we started walking the beach back and then at  the closest part of the beach to our hostel, we went and JUMPED IN! When in San Sebastian, right? It was 6 degrees celsius and all the Spaniards that were there looked at us like we were crazy--I mean, who wouldn't think that 8 American girls in bikinis running on the beach, in the rain, and jumping into La Bahia de La Concha wouldn't be wierd?  Walking back to our hostel in our towels was even funnier, but completely worth it!

Playa de La Concha (where we jumped in!)

Me on top of Mount Igueldo (where the amusement park was)



View from the top of Mount Igueldo



We stayed in for the rest of the night and got some good sleep.

Sunday, we woke up and had to check out of our hostel by 11 a.m. So we got up, went to La Pasteleria (Pastry Shop) and I got a delicious chocolate covered croissant for breakfast.  Then, a couple of us went to mass at the beautiful Iglesia de Santa Maria (St. Mary's Church). It was absolutely gorgeous. After that, some of the group hiked up Mount Urgull to see "La Estatua del Sagrado Corazon" (A big Jesus statue).  I have never been so excited to see Jesus before after that hike! Again, the views were breath-taking.



La Iglesia de Santa Maria (went to church here)



After the hike, we went for some pizza, and by the time we got done we had to catch our train back to Segovia.

Overall, San Sebastian was a fabulous place to spend my first free weekend in Spain.  We had some great adventures!  Oh, and I came back to snow in Segovia--haha.

Mount Urgell- JESUS statue!